The article in The Postech Times, ‘The Unit: An Unexpected Barrier’ is getting at the kernel of the problems of the Activity Based general education Curriculum (ABC). The core of the argument is that it is difficult to accomplish getting 10 units in 8 semesters. This does not seem to be too hard at first sight, but if you get into it, you will realize that the iceberg is much bigger than it seems to be.
Many sophomores, becoming juniors this year, were in panic due to the unexpected hardship completing the curriculum. The biggest, crucial problem was the lack of vacancies. There were few courses, and the classes were small, so not every student could take the ABC courses. The ABC started in 2011; therefore, students who are becoming juniors this year were the ones taking all the disadvantages of the fragile early stage of the ABC. As a sophomore myself, I also was afraid of being not able to graduate with peers.
We, sophomores, had been claiming for alterations of the curriculum since we entered POSTECH. In response to the countless claims from students, the POSTECH Leadership Center recently decided to make a bulky change. On February 26th (Tue.), it was announced that there will be some changes in ABC requirements. It was stated that we only need to get 7 units to complete the curriculum now.
The POSTECH Leadership Center managed to take a hurdle away from the track, but even this solution could not neatly take every stone away. If you first see the information of the ABC, you will be astonished by the numerous courses that all seem to be interesting. However, now that students take only few courses, the POSTECH Leadership Center should carefully decide which courses to open and which courses not to open. Students who wanted to register A might be forced to take B because A is not opened. Some other problems might reveal themselves as well. The POSTECH Leadership Center should now predict what other side-effects would be, and also figure out how to deal with these new problems.